How cute and fuzzy and Hallmarkian can Microsoft get? The software superpower generally approaches its business the same way General George S. Patton approached war. ("The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.") But a softer side is emerging.
Exhibit A: Company commander-in-chief Bill Gates' latest TV presence. Viewers of TV sports -- say the audience for the Chicago Bulls' Sunday slaughter of the Utah Jazz -- will be forgiven for doing a double take when Gates materializes on their screens hawking golf clubs for Callaway Sports.
Gates tells the audience that he's not really very good at golf -- news we didn't find surprising -- but that the game is more enjoyable for him now that he's latched onto one of Callaway's Big Bertha drivers.
The commercial, coupled with a New York Times report that Gates carries a truly awful 23 handicap on the links, is nearly enough to humanize him and his company.
Exhibit B: A Microsoft press release today that urges Father's Day shoppers to "forget the ties and tools" and get dad a subscription to Slate, the company's online journal of news and commentary. If buyers act now, they can enter to win one of five free WebTV Plus systems, complete with a wireless keyboard and one free month of service, "so dad can view Slate magazine on TV!" (Exclamation theirs.)
But that's not all.
In an example of the freedom to innovate that Gates and subalterns have been reminding Americans is at the heart of the government antitrust case against Microsoft, the company is offering this amazing deal: Dads who get unwanted ties for Father's Day can mail the neckwear to Microsoft and get a six-month subscription to Slate.
Microsoft's press release doesn't say it, but this sounds like the ideal gift for Joel Klein, the Justice Department antitrust chief, or any of the other dads among the 20 state attorneys general who are suing the company for alleged anticompetitive practices.
Of course, Chairman Bill might have another idea for this group. Maybe Big Bertha neckties.
